By Coty Hamlin, Tampa Free Press

A conservative environmental organization voiced fierce opposition Monday after the Trump administration finalized a rule permitting hunters to use bait, including foods like doughnuts and bacon grease, to attract and kill bears within national preserves across Alaska.

The decision, finalized Oct. 19, reverses previous federal restrictions on sport hunting practices within the state’s national preserve lands.

Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship, a national grassroots nonprofit, condemned the policy change, asserting that luring predators with food runs counter to the fundamental purpose of federal wildlife preserves and violates traditional standards of fair chase.

David Jenkins, the president of CRS, criticized the administration’s move in an official statement.

“There appears to be no bottom to how low this administration will stoop to exploit America’s natural treasures. Bear baiting is not hunting. It allows unscrupulous, lazy ass people who are too wimpy to actually hunt, to execute bears in a nationally protected area. It is an anathema to actual hunting,” Jenkins said.

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